Phoenix
by MargretKelley
Summary: Quiet, timid Petunia Evans mislead everyone, even herself. She was a phoenix, destined to die and be reborn from her ashes.
1. The Letter

**Chapter 1 - The Letter**

The summer day dawned bright over Cokeworth, illuminating a small kitchen in a brick rowhouse on Weavers Road. Inside, two young girls were giggling as they attempted to help their mother make breakfast.

"Watch this, Tuney," the younger, red-headed girl whispered behind her hand to her older, blonde siser. She grasped her mother's apron string and after a moment the blue flowers adorning the apron had turned to pink.

"What are you girls doing back there?" their mother asked, exasperated as she turned the bacon in the pan. "Lily, set the table, Petunia, toast some bread, please."

Lily winked at Petunia before gathering cutlery, causing Petunia to smile and shake her head ruefully. Both she and Lily could make the strangest things happen, often by accident, but Lily had been getting better and better at doing things on purpose. After a nasty incident in grade school where a boy bullying Petunia began vomiting slugs, the two girls had agreed to not show off at school.

"Morning, Alice," yawned their father, as he strode across the kitchen to place a kiss on his wife's cheek. "Oh, got a new apron?"

"What? No..." She looked down and saw the changes to her apron. "Which of you girls do I have to thank this time?"

Both girls giggled and the toast sprang from the toaster exuberantly. Petunia deftly caught it out of mid-air before placing two more slices of bread in the toaster as their father sat down at the table to read through the post.

"Hmm, Petunia, you seem to have gotten some mail," he said frowning as he held up a thick yellowish envelope. Both she and Lily crowded around her father to look at the unusual mail, then jumped when a knock sounded at the front door. "Blimey, who could be calling at this hour?"

As he got up to answer the door, Alice Evans neatly deposited the bacon onto a plate. "And this, my dears, is why I always cook extra at meals."

"But Mummy," Petunia protested. "Just how many times have we had unexpected company for breakfast on a _Saturday_?"

Her mother frowned, tilting her head to one side as if contemplating an answer, when her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of their unexpected guest.

The appearance of the woman Henry Evans escorted into the kitchen was unusual enough that both Lily and Petunia were unabashedly staring. She was a tall, thin woman with black hair pulled back into a severe bun wearing square spectacles and a long green cloak that hid her toes, even though the day promised to be quite warm.

"Minerva McGonagall," the woman said crisply, extending a hand.

"Alice Evans. Won't you please join us for breakfast?"

"Thank you," the strange woman said, sitting in one of the worn chairs with posture that Petunia envied.

"Lily, could you please get another plate?" Mrs. Evans asked her youngest daughter before sitting down herself.

"Now, I'm sure you all are wondering what the purpose of my visit is," Mrs. McGonagall stated very matter-of-factly as she spread jam on her toast. "Am I to understand that you received an unusual piece of mail this morning?"

"Yes," Henry answered for his eldest daughter. "We haven't had a chance to take a look at it yet."

"Excellent. Petunia, would you mind opening that letter?"

Both Petunia and Lily looked at the letter eagerly, but before Petunia had even managed to pick it up, the wax seal split and the top of the envelope sprang open. Ignoring the gasps of surprise from her parents and the chuckle from Mrs. McGonagall, Petunia carefully extracted the letter with trembling fingers.

_Dear Miss Evans,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins September 1._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

"You mean... all those things Lily and I can do... we're witches?"

"Precisely," Mrs. McGonagall said, a satisfied smile gracing her face as she faced Alice and Henry. "Now, I understand you must have many questions for me. I will do the best I can to answer them."

"_Witches_? My daughters are _witches_?" her mother asked, her eyes going very wide.

"Yes," Mrs. McGonagall explained. "Our world - the magical world, that is - is hidden from people like yourselves who are not magical. You may have noticed one or both of your daughters either doing something out of the ordinary or out of the ordinary things happening around them. Magical children will frequently display their talents before they go to school, even in non-magical households such as yours."

"Like my blue apron suddenly turning pink this morning," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"But why did Tuney get a letter and not me?" asked Lily, frowning.

"Petunia turned eleven this past April," Mrs. McGonagall responded softly, seemingly understanding what was going through the young girls mind. "Students must turn eleven before they start Hogwarts, you should be receiving your letter in three years, should your parents allow you girls to attend."

"Hogwarts? What's that?" her father asked.

"It's the school I teach at. I teach Transfiguration - that is, changing one object into a different object. Would you like a demonstration?"

"I suppose so," he said reluctantly.

Mrs. McGonagall reached into her robes and produced a long, thin stick of polished wood, then tapped it against the butter dish. Instantly, it became a bone china teapot and with two more flicks, steam was pouring out the spout.

"That's amazing," her mother breathed, staring at her former butter dish. "You're saying that if my girls go to your school, they can learn to do that too?"

"Eventually, and with the proper training, yes," Mrs. McGonagall told her as she conjured teacups and began pouring tea. "The first lesson in my class is transfiguring matchsticks into needles, things of similar sizes and shapes and not terribly complex. The transfiguration I just performed is typically learned in fifth year, conjuring water is learned in sixth year, summoning objects is learned in fourth year, and warming charms are taught in second year."

"What sorts of subjects do your students take?" her father inquired politely, still not looking entirely sold on the whole concept.

"First and second year students study Transfiguration, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Herbology, History of Magic, Flying, and Astronomy."

"No math?" Petunia asked, a smile lighting up her face. Alice and Henry chuckled, it was no secret that their eldest daughter did not care for numbers.

"Not unless you choose to take Arithmancy as an elective." Mrs. McGonagall looked to Henry, who still looked unsure. "Would you be like to visit Wizarding London to see our world for yourself? If you so choose, we can pick up Petunia's school supplies while we're there."

"We have to go to London to pick up school supplies?" he asked, aghast. "Just how far away is this school?"

"Technically the castle lies within the boundaries of Hogsmeade village in northern Scotland, however, it is unplottable so it can't be charted on a map."

"It's a boarding school, then?" her mother asked timidly. "What is the tuition, then?"

"Students are expected to remain in the castle from September 1 to June 30, with two weeks off at Christmas and another week off for Easter. It's a public school, you won't have to pay for it, aside from school supplies."

Mrs. Evans looked to her husband pleadingly upon hearing this latest tidbit of information while he became very thoughtful. While they would love to keep their girls home for a while yet, it had always been a wild dream of theirs that their daughters would be accepted to a prestigious school on a scholarship. This sounded like their dreams had come true - and for _both_ their daughters. They couldn't be prouder.

"Alright," he said slowly. "About how much should we expect to spend on school supplies? I need to stop at the bank before we head into London."

Petunia grabbed Lily's hand under the table and squeezed it tightly before they jumped up to clear away the breakfast dishes.

The normally tedious four hour long trip to London was anything but tedious today. Once they had gotten settled on the train, Mrs. McGonagall had produced a number of pamphlets on the same heavy, yellowish paper that Petunia's letter had been on. The four Evans' had devoured these pamphlets and began firing questions at Mrs. McGonagall about specifics that weren't mentioned. She gladly answered all their questions, herding them down a busy street then suddenly turning into a dingy little pub Petunia had hardly noticed among the store fronts.

The first thing Petunia noticed was that the pub was very dimly lit and once her eyes adjusted to the lighting, she observed that it was lit entirely by candles, nary a light bulb in sight. The second thing she noticed, with considerable distaste, was the pervading grime of the place. Her final observation was that the occupants were all dressed quite peculiarly. Nearly all of them were wearing tall, pointed hats and everyone, even the men, were wearing long cloaks similar to the one Mrs. McGonagall wore. She didn't have any longer to make further observations as they were being quickly ushered to the door leading out to the back. The next thing she knew the five of them were squeezed into a small brick courtyard with several rubbish bins.

"Now, I'll give you a diagram so you can do this yourself later on, but please pay close attention," Mrs. McGonagall said rather sternly to Petunia. She nodded, suddenly very nervous, as Mrs. McGonagall pulled out her wand again and carefully tapped on a few bricks. Suddenly, the bricks began rearranging themselves into an enormous archway leading to a bustling, cobbled street.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley," Mrs. McGonagall stated, smiling back at the flabbergasted family behind her. "Now, first stop is Gringotts to get your money exchanged. In Wizarding Britain, we use a currency consisting of Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. I believe the current exchange rate between a pound and a galleon is five pounds to one galleon, and then there are seventeen sickles to a galleon and twenty-nine knuts to a sickle." They had finally come up to a rather imposing set of white steps leading up to imposing bronze doors. "This is Gringotts, our bank," Mrs. McGonagall continued as she began climbing the steps. Petunia suddenly noticed two small, strange looking creatures that absolutely could _not_ be human. Despite being eleven years old, she stepped closer to her mother and grabbed her hand. Her mother gave her a small, encouraging smile and squeezed back.

After passing through another set of doors, they emerged into a grand marble hall. The strange looking creatures were every where now, writing furiously with rather old-fashioned looking quills. Wide-eyed, Petunia was forced to smother a shriek when one of the creatures approached them.

"Purpose of visit?" he asked in a bored tone.

"Currency exchange." Mrs. McGonagall responded crisply. The creature nodded before snapping his finger and shouting, "Gornuk!"

Yet another one of the creatures appeared and Petunia noticed with some annoyance that Lily wasn't in the least bit scared of them. She was loosely hanging onto their father's hand, but that was out of obligation given her age and the unfamiliar environment, not because she was scared. Petunia took a deep breath to help steady her nerves and at least display _some_ of the bravery her baby sister was exhibiting.

The currency exchange went by rather quickly and the twenty-pound note her father handed over quickly became 3 galleons, 15 sickles, and 8 knuts.

"I think the first stop should be to get a wand," Mrs. McGonagall informed them as they stepped back out into the busy street. "Ollivander's has some of the best wands in the world."

They approached a small shop a few doors down from the large bank that looked a bit worn around the edges. The sign above it proudly proclaimed "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C." in gold lettering, but the "f" was beginning to peel away from the building. Mrs. McGonagall pushed open the door, ushering the Evans family inside.

"Ah, a new Muggleborn student, Minerva?" a soft voice came out from among the shadowy shop. Petunia squinted into the gloom, her eyes finally adjusting from the bright sunshine. A man who was getting on in years stood before them, his hair heavily streaked with grey and incredibly pale grey eyes.

"Yes," Mrs. McGonagall replied crisply. "This is Petunia Evans, she'll be attending Hogwarts this year."

"I always find it interesting pairing Muggleborns with their first wands," the strange man, Mr. Ollivander, Petunia guessed, said as he pulled a tape measure out of his pocket. The tape measure sprang to life and began measuring Petunia as she stood perfectly still. "They're blank slates, don't have to fight or live up to any family expectations. I mean, really," he turned to Henry and Alice, "what exactly is it that you expect your daughter to do? Do you expect she'll be the next inovator in Charms? Potion brewing?" They shook their heads dumbly. "Exactly. She'll be free to do exactly as she pleases."

Mr. Ollivander then proceeded to explain a bit about how wands were made and how they matched with the witch or wizard, Petunia couldn't just wander in the back and pick out a wand that she thought might work. Finally, the tape measure stopped taking measurements and coiled itself back up. Mr. Ollivander snatched a piece of paper off a small table and went to the back of the shop where there were hundreds upon hundreds of small boxes stacked.

"Ah yes, let's have you try this one first. Black walnut and dragon heartstring, 9 1/2 inches. Rather rigid. Go on, give it a wave."

Petunia grasped the wand and twirled it through the air. Nothing happened.

"Mm, yes. Acacia and unicorn hair, 10 1/4 inches. Springy."

That one didn't seem to work either and it was quickly snatched back.

"How about this one? Rowan and unicorn hair, 10 inches. Swishy."

This one didn't work either and when Mr. Ollivander took the wand back, he looked at her thoughtfully for a few moments before disappearing into the back again.

"Hazel and phoenix feather, 9 3/4 inches. Inflexible."

Petunia grasped the wand and a feeling of warmth spread throughout her body. Smiling, she slashed the wand down like a sword, multicolored sparks spilling from the wand.

"Marvelous!" Mr. Ollivander exclaimed. Mrs. McGonagall was looking at her proudly while the rest of her family was staring at her in awe. Mr. Ollivander took the wand away from her again, placing it back in its box before handing it back to her. "That will be 12 sickles and 5 knuts, please."

Henry fumbled about in his pockets for the money he had received earlier and finally extracted a gold galleon. Mr. Ollivander quickly handed him 4 sickles and a pile of knuts before bowing them out of his shop.

Shopping for school supplies took the rest of the day. After seeing how much the wand had cost, they kept to the second-hand stores, which suited Petunia just fine. They managed to find five sets of black school robes for her, rather than the required three and she was also able to convince her parents to let her get three other sets of simple, colored robes for the weekends. She had fallen in love with a set of frilly pink robes, but Mrs. McGonagall wouldn't let her purchase them.

"Good heavens, child, those were the height of style when I was in school!" she had chuckled, taking them firmly out of Petunia's hands and placing them back on the rack. Her mother wisely suggested that they purposefully buy the robes too large and hem them to fit. Petunia had quickly agreed to that as she was hoping to have a growth spurt sometime very, _very_ soon.

Eventually, exhausted, they had finished shopping and all of Petunia's school supplies were now in her newly purchased trunk. The trunk itself wasn't new - it looked quite old, actually - but it was far more spacious on the inside than it was on the outside and it had been charmed to be featherlight, no matter what you put in it. They wearily made their way back to the pub they had gone into first, which Mrs. McGonagall told them was called the Leaky Cauldron, and sat down to have dinner, despite Petunia's misgivings about the cleanliness of the place. Soon enough, they all had large bowls of some sort of delicious stew and mugs of something called Butterbeer.

"Now," Mrs. McGonagall told them between bites. "On September 1, you'll need to go down to Kings Cross Station and catch the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 3/4. It's hidden, so you'll need to pass through the divider between platforms 9 and 10 to reach it. The train leaves the station at precisely 11 AM, so I'd strongly recommend you get there sometime before then."

"Will _we_ be able to get through the divider?" Alice asked.

"Oh, yes, of course. Make sure that no one's looking too closely at you when you go through, we don't want too many Muggles questioning where everyone's disappearing off to. Now, Petunia will have access to the school owls during the academic year, but if you ever need to get in touch with her or any of the faculty, simply send letters to this address through the Muggle post, they'll make it to the school." Mrs. McGonagall slid a piece of parchment across the table to her parents.

"How long is the train ride?" her mother asked.

"About 6 hours or so, I'd either bring a lunch or money to buy lunch on the train," Mrs. McGonagall replied, dabbing her mouth with her napkin before standing up. "Well, it's been lovely meeting you all and I look forward to seeing you in school come September, Petunia."

The Evans' left shortly after Mrs. McGonagall and wearily made their way back to the train station. Before they had even put London behind them, the exhausting day and rocking of the train had put Petunia to sleep.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

_Hi everyone! Thanks for checking out my new story. This is a work in progress, although I have rough drafts of about four other chapters completed and partial rough drafts of several other chapters. I am definitely interested in a beta who could help me out with SPAG and general bouncing of ideas, so please feel free to PM me if you feel up to the challenge. I am trying to stick rather closely to canon (other than, you know, Petunia being a witch and all) so I would appreciate a beta who is well-versed in canon, including that found on Pottermore.  
_

_On other topics, while I kept the exchange rate between Galleons and British pounds the same, I did quite a bit of research on inflation and what today's currency exchanges are compared to 1968, when this chapter takes place. I've tried to do quite a bit of canon research as well._

_Thanks again for reading!_


	2. Hogwarts

**Chapter 2 - Hogwarts**

"Good morning, girls!" Alice's voice rang out as a light flicked on. "Time to get up!"

Petunia blearily opened her eyes, immediately squinting against the harsh artificial light. It was finally September 1, but she and Lily had stayed up quite late the night before, having whispered discussions about what Hogwarts was going to be like.

"Wha' time is it?" Lily mumbled into her pillow.

"Five o'clock, you know we need to catch the train in less than an hour, Lily," their mother informed her sternly. "Up, up!"

Both Petunia and Lily stumbled out of bed and once they began getting dressed for the day, Mrs. Evans left the room, satisfied that they were up. "I'm going to miss you," Lily said as she pulled a shirt over her head. "You'll write, right?"

"Course I will," Petunia said confidently as she slipped on a pair of shoes.

They arrived in London around a quarter to ten and Kings Cross was already bustling. Some families looked quite normal, clutching suitcases and kissing loved ones before boarding a train. Others looked normal at first glance, but were slightly out of place with owls and old fashioned trunks. Then there were those who were _clearly_ different, dressed in clothes fashionable several decades - if not several centuries - past.

"Alright, platform 8... platform 9... aha! this must be it!" Mr. Evans was positively quaking with excitement.

They had stopped in front of a wrought iron barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Petunia walked up to it and began to push on the edge of it, barely hearing her mother's plea of, "Petunia, wait!"

Suddenly, she found herself on a similarly crowded platform, no evidence of either platform 9 or 10 around here. People were openly practicing magic here, wands being tapped on individuals to straighten hairstyles or robes, and in one instance, a boy had a wand outstretched and moments later a toad came soaring into his other outstretched hand.

"Petunia Marie Evans!" came her mother's voice. "Don't you ever do that again!"

Petunia turned around and saw the rest of her family standing on the platform with her now. "I'm very sorry, Mummy," she said. "I didn't realize it would be quite so easy to get through."

"Yes, well, you have no idea how terrifying it is to see your child disappear into thin air," she huffed, engulfing her daughter in a tight hug.

"Is that the train?" her father asked.

Sure enough, Petunia turned her head in her mother's grasp and noticed the brilliantly scarlet old fashioned steam engine that was standing next to the platform. "Oh wow," Lily said, wide eyed, voicing Petunia's thoughts exactly.

"Go on, find a seat girls, we'll talk to you through the window," their father said, smiling and giving his daughters a gentle push towards the train. They needed very little encouragement and quickly walked on board.

After peeking into several compartments, they finally found an empty one and managed to get Petunia's trunk onto the luggage rack without much difficulty. Sitting across from one another in the seats closest to the windows, Petunia threw open the window and leaned out, waving to her parents, who quickly hurried over.

"Petunia, dear, get back inside. You don't want to have an accident before you even get to school!"

"Yes, Mummy," Petunia replied, as she sat back down and smoothed her yellow blouse and white skirt. They chatted for nearly a quarter of an hour before the compartment door slid open, causing Petunia to jump in her seat.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" a young girl with a round, kind face asked. "My cousins don't want me bothering them and I don't know anyone my own age."

"Oh, no, not at all," Petunia replied, springing to her feet. "I'm Petunia Evans and this is my sister, Lily."

"Alice Fawley," the girl said nervously, shaking Petunia's hand.

"We'll leave you to get settled in then," Mrs. Evans said, kissing Petunia on the cheek. "Lily, I expect you to be back on the platform by five of."

Mr. Evans leaned into the compartment and kissed Petunia on the cheek as well. "Have a lovely term at school, learn lots, and write home often," he told her. "Lovely name there, young lady," he said with a broad smile towards Alice Fawley.

"What did he mean by that?" Alice asked with a small frown.

Lily laughed. "Our mum's name is Alice, too."

"Oh," Alice said. "I'm rather fond of it myself. Are you a first year?"

Lily shook her head sadly. "I'm only eight. Mrs. McGonagall says I get to come when I turn eleven! I can't wait to learn about magic."

"No one else in our family is magic," Petunia explained. "Lily and I knew we could do strange things, but we were still quite surprised when Mrs. McGonagall visited and told us we were witches."

Alice's eyes widened. "Oh wow, I can't imagine living without magic," she said, shaking her head, causing her pigtails to swing wildly. "My family's been magical for, well, centuries. Millenia, probably."

"What's it like growing up in a magical house?" Petunia asked, curiously.

Alice laughed. "I honestly wouldn't know where to begin," she said with a sigh. "I've never seen how Muggles live, so I can't tell you what the difference is."

"Does _anyone_ in the magical world use electricity?" Lily asked.

"Use _what_?"

Lily and Petunia stared at each other in disbelief.

"How do you power your lights?" Petunia asked.

"Well, clearly there are some magical lights," Alice said with a frown. "But mostly we use candles. Some of the newer places have gas lines installed and have gas lamps, but our house is too old for that. Say, what house do you think you'll end up in?"

Petunia was confused for a moment, then realized she was referring to Hogwarts. "I don't know," she said uneasily.

"Oh, well if you're Muggleborn, I suppose you wouldn't have a family tradition," Alice said with a wave of her hand. "I'm hoping to get into Gryffindor, personally. Most of my family has been in Gryffindor."

"How do we get sorted? The pamphlets Mrs. McGonagall gave us were very vague about that."

"I don't know," Alice shrugged. "My mum says it's a secret until you get to school."

The three girls continued chatting until a whistle blew and Mrs. Evans was back at the window. "It's five of!" she told Lily.

Lily stood up sadly. "Well, it was lovely meeting you, Alice," she said, sticking out her hand.

"I hope I'll see you soon, Lily!" Alice said merrily, giving the younger girl a quick hug.

Petunia stood up and gave Lily a tight hug. "I'll write often," she promised.

"I will too," Lily whispered back.

"Good luck in school, I love you!" Petunia was desperately trying not to cry and could see tears swimming in Lily's large green eyes.

"Love you too, Tuney!" Lily called out as she scampered out of the compartment.

"I wish I had a baby sister," Alice sighed when Petunia stepped back into the compartment after seeing Lily walk back onto the platform. The two girls sat next to the window and waved goodbye to their parents as the train gave a final whistle and began pulling away from the station.

* * *

Six hours later, Alice had taught Petunia how to play Exploding Snap and they had shared all of the chocolate chip cookies Mrs. Evans had sent along for the train ride. Alice had 18 knuts that she quickly spent on the food trolley that came around several hours after the train had departed. Alice's favorite treat off the trolley was Drooble's Best Blowing Bubblegum, but she also bought Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and pumpkin juice for Petunia to try.

Finally they could feel the train begin to slow down and both girls pulled their school robes on. "Don't forget your hat," Alice warned. "My mum says that they're very strict about always wearing your hats outside."

Petunia frowned, thinking this was something rather old-fashioned that her grandmother would do, but pulled out her hat, straightening it and carefully pinning it into her hair. She helped Alice pin her hat into her hair after she had painfully stabbed herself in the head several times.

"My mum knows a really good spell to keep hats on without pins," Alice grumbled. "I'm going to have to write her and ask how to do it."

Petunia was grateful for the large brim on her hat when she stepped off the train and the sun was still shining quite brightly.

"Firs' years over here! Firs' years!"

Petunia looked up and gasped. "Look at that man," she said tugging on Alice's sleeve.

The man rounding up the first years was positively enormous. He was solidly built and at least eight feet tall, if Petunia had to guess. His broad smile put her at ease somewhat, but she still grabbed Alice's hand.

The first years clustered around the giant of a man while the older students boarded old-fashioned looking horseless carriages. As the last carriage rumbled away, he spoke again.

"Alrigh' now everyone, follow me!"

They trotted off down a path, hardly able to keep up with his long, easy strides. A few minutes later a lake came into view and they could see a large castle on the other side.

"No more than four to a boat!" the man called out again and the students quickly began climbing into the small rowboats along the shore. Petunia and Alice climbed in behind two boys.

"Alice Fawley and Petunia Evans," Alice informed the boys quickly, sticking her hand out in greeting.

"Frank Longbottom and Eric Thomas," the boy on the right said, shaking Alice's hand. "Say, do you know Eustace Fawley?"

Alice's face lit up. "He's my uncle! How do you know him?"

Eric turned to Petunia as Alice and Frank were excitedly discussing people that they knew or had heard of. "I'm the first wizard in my family," he admitted. "How long have you and Alice known each other?"

"Oh, we just met on the train this morning," Petunia assured him. "I'm the first witch in my family too, although Mrs. McGonagall said that my little sister, Lily, is too."

"Did you ever make strange things happen?" Eric asked her excitedly. "We just thought I had the best of luck growing up, I was always getting myself out of tricky spots, like a bus suddenly jumping over five feet when I was little and walked out onto the street without looking, but apparently I was doing _magic_!"

"One time a boy who was teasing me began vomiting slugs," Petunia shrugged. "Lily's better at it than I am, half the time she can do stuff on purpose."

"Wow," he said, staring at her in awe.

Soon enough the boats had crossed the lake and Petunia let out a small screech as she realized the boats were on a collision course with the castle, which was apparently partially underwater. Her nerves lessened slightly when she saw the boats ahead of her passing harmlessly through a curtain of ivy cascading down one of the walls, evidently hiding an entrance.

"Don't worry," Alice told her as she squeezed Petunia's hand reassuringly. "My mum says there's a dock inside the castle.

Sure enough, their boat approached the ivy and though Petunia flinched and closed her eyes, feeling the ivy tickle her as they passed under it. She opened her eyes again and saw that they were in a rather plain room, dimly lit by candles with water and dirt making up the floor. As soon as the boat scraped against the shore, she scrambled out of the boat and began following everyone up a set of steps. Soon enough, they were in a fairly large room, with a rather impressive vaulted ceiling, lit by candles. Soon enough it was nearly filled with eleven year olds whispering quietly amongst themselves.

"Good evening, if you'll please follow me," Mrs. McGonagall announced, leading them through another door. The entered an even larger stone chamber with a very impressive set of wooden doors. There were a number of smaller doors in the room as well, and they passed one where it sounded like there was a large number of rambunctious teenagers being held behind it. Given that she was at school, Petunia thought that was likely the case, as they walked into yet another chamber where Mrs. McGonagall had stopped.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she said once everyone had shuffled nervously into the room. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you can take your seats in the Great Hall, you must first be sorted into your houses. The Sorting Ceremony is very important because while you are here..."

Petunia's mind drifted off a bit, vaguely paying attention to Mrs. McGonagall's speech, which sounded dry and well-rehearsed. She hadn't told them anything yet that was new to Petunia, so she thought about the various ways that they might be sorted into various houses. She had finally decided that they would be drawing papers out of a hat when everyone around her began shuffling into the Great Hall with a mixture of apprehension and excitement.

The Great Hall more than lived up to its name. Petunia only saw five tables, but they were all quite large. It appeared that each house had their own table and the faculty had a separate table. There were hundreds of students sitting around chatting and catching up and several gave the first years waves and thumbs up. There was a great deal brighter in the place than she had expected, so she turned to look at the ceiling, gasping when she saw nothing there.

"Won't we get wet when it rains?" she hissed at Alice, growing rather concerned.

Alice looked up and laughed. "Oh, no, don't worry," she assured her. "There's an actual roof up there, the ceiling's just bewitched to look like the sky."

Feeling relieved, Petunia continued holding her head up high as they made their way to the front of the hall. As Mrs. McGonagall reached the front and center of the Great Hall, she stopped, drawing up a small stool, and pulling an ancient, tattered, and dirty looking hat out of her pocket. Petunia nearly fell over in shock when a hole near the brim of the hat opened up and it began to sing. Later she couldn't tell you the exact words of the song, but it had a pleasant enough melody (for a hat, anyways) and seem to describe the qualities of the four Hogwarts houses. When it was finished, the entire school applauded politely and the hat bowed.

Once everything had quieted down again, Mrs. McGonagall looked around the room sternly, pulling out a piece of parchment from her pocket.

"Abbot, Emily!"

A very small girl nervously made her way to the hat, wringing her hands, before sitting on the stool and slipping the hat on her head. Petunia shuddered, they were expected to put _that_ dirty, ancient hat on their heads? She hoped there was a cure for lice in the Wizarding world.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat after several moments.

Everyone at the left-middle table began clapping and cheering as the small girl took the hat off her head and ran off to join the Hufflepuffs. Once everyone was quiet again, Mrs. McGonagall read the next name off the parchment.

"Bones, Robert!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted before it had even settled on his head.

A few more students were sorted and Petunia jerked in surprised to hear her name called out.

"You're up," Alice whispered, giving her a gentle nudge to the front.

Shakily, Petunia crossed the distance to the hat and gingerly placed it on her head as she sat on the stool.

She heard a small chuckle. _I may be old and dirty, but I have plenty of enchantments on me to resist vermin, child._

_What? _Petunia thought frantically.

_No worries about catching lice, we need to worry more about where to sort you._

_I don't know where I belong,_ Petunia thought fretfully.

_Ah, yes, you're a Muggleborn,_ the hat said thoughtfully. _I think you'd do well in Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Gryffindor, but in the end we must chose one of those houses._

_Why not Hufflepuff?_ Petunia asked indignantly.

_You have many fine qualities, but unfailing loyalty is not one of them,_ the hat told her gently. _You have plenty of self-preservation and cunning for Slytherin, plenty of brains and hard work for Ravenclaw, and I daresay you even have enough bravery for Gryffindor._

_I'm not brave,_ Petunia said glumly, thinking back to the visit to Gringotts.

_There are many kinds of bravery. Charging blindly into unknown or dangerous situations is not the only type of bravery in the world._

_I suppose that's true._

_Well now, although I think you'd make a fine Slytherin, they aren't taking kindly to Muggleborns these days, all the pity._

_What's wrong with being Muggleborn?_

The hat heaved out a great sigh. _You'd have to ask them, I don't have any problems with Muggleborns. I may see into their minds but that doesn't mean I understand their convoluted reasoning._

_Oh._

_So, now it's down to Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Two very fine houses, you'll do well in either of them. You've got a sharp mind, even if your magic isn't the strongest I've seen._ Petunia's shoulders sank glumly. _No, don't you fret, child, some of the smartest witches of the ages weren't the strongest! You certainly don't think Muggles are blithering idiots because they can't do magic, do you?_

_No, _Petunia thought, aghast at the question.

_Yes, I'm thinking that would be an excellent fit for you._

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat shouted, bringing many cheers to what had been the longest sorting thus far that year. Petunia quickly pulled the hat off her head and briskly walked to the Ravenclaw table, the first Ravenclaw of the year.

"Fawley, Alice!"

Alice, pale, scurried up to the stool, nearly tripping over her own feet. After a few moments, the hat shouted "RAVENCLAW!" again and Petunia cheered for her new friend heartily with all her new housemates.

Finally, the last student was sorted, the hat and stool disappeared, and a very tall, very thin man wearing deep purple robes dotted with small silver stars stood.

"Welcome to Hogwarts! I'm sure you're all quite famished, so I'll keep this brief. As its name might suggest, the Forbidden Forest is _still _out of bounds for all students unless specifically accompanied by a member of the staff. After the disturbance they caused in the halls last year, Screaming Yo-Yo's have unfortunately been banned this year. If you are interested in viewing all banned items, there is a list posted on Mr. Pringle's office door. Thank you!"

The tall man sat down and suddenly the tables were covered in food. Alice quickly helped herself to potatoes, carrots, green beans, and roast chicken, before realizing her new friend hadn't moved yet.

"Come on, eat!" Alice informed her merrily, scooping out chicken and ham pie on both their plates.

Petunia picked at her pie and helped herself to some green beans, which she chewed slowly. Too slowly, evidently, because before she had even finished half of her portion, they disappeared from her plate, along with the rest of the food on the table. Sighing sadly, she set down her fork, only to gasp in surprise again, as the table was now laden with every kind of sweet imaginable. There were even some sweets she was certain she had _never_ seen, were those frog shaped chocolates really hopping all over the table?

"No, really, I'm not hung- oh, alright," Petunia said weakly as Alice prepared both of them hot fudge sundaes.

"So, where are you girls from?" a pale girl with dark brown hair asked.

Both Petunia and Alice looked at each other in surprise, neither had thought to ask that since they met on the train that morning.

"Er - I'm from Cokeworth, it's near Manchester," Petunia offered timidly.

"I'm from London, about a twenty minute walk from Diagon Alley," Alice answered. "How about you?"

"I'm from Aberdeen. Oh! My name's Emmeline, Emmeline Vance."

Petunia and Alice quickly told her their names and then they began discussing what they hoped to learn in the coming year. Emmeline, as it turned out, was a third year, but her best friend, Margie, had transferred to Beauxbatons.

"Beauxbatons?" Petunia asked in confusion.

"It's the French version of Hogwarts," Emmeline sighed, plonking her elbows down on the table. "She had to spend the whole summer learning French, can you believe it?"

"No," Alice answered, wide eyed.

"Why'd she transfer?" Petunia asked curiously.

"Her parents are Muggles and her father's job got transferred to Switzerland," Emmeline said gloomily, stabbing her slice of chocolate cake.

Suddenly, all the desserts vanished just as dinner had. The tall man stood again, said something about following Prefects and everyone began to get up and leave. By this point Petunia was very sleepy, but Emmeline took both her and Alice by the hand.

"Come on, you two, I'll show you where to go," she said, dragging the two tired girls after her.

"But -" Alice smothered a yawn and tried again. "But you're not a prefect."

Emmeline let out a laugh. "I think in the past two years I've figured out how to get to my own tower without a prefect."

She led them up several winding staircases, pointing out that the second staircase they had gone up actually led to the west wing on the fourth floor on alternate Tuesdays, instead of the east wing on the third floor like it did the rest of the time. Finally, when Petunia didn't think she could climb another step, they reached a door with a bronze, raven shaped knocker.

"Ah, first years!" the raven exclaimed.

"You have to answer a riddle to get into the common room, it's to make sure our minds stay sharp," Emmeline explained.

"Yes, yes, but two first years this late at night... I'd best go easy on them. Hmm... Give me food and I will live, give me water and I will die, what am I? No helping!"

Alice and Petunia looked at each other bleary-eyed while Emmeline's eyes lit up in excitement. Finally something clicked in Petunia's mind as she stared at the torches lining the staircase leading up to the door.

"Fire," she answered.

"Excellent!" the knocker said cheerfully as the door swung open.

The common room was wide and circular, with large windows out of which Petunia could see more stars than she ever thought existed. There was a large fire crackling along the wall and there were a number of sofas, squashy chairs, and bookcases throughout the room.

"I suppose you'll want to head straight to bed, so let me show you where the dormitories are," Emmeline announced, heading for a spiral staircase. "These stairs lead up to both the boys and girls rooms, but there are repulsion jinxes on the girl's doorways that the boys can't get through. If a millennia of Ravenclaw minds can't figure out how to get around the jinx, you most likely won't," she warned as they began hiking up the steep steps.

The went up and up and up, all the way to the very top of the tower, as the stairs had stopped when they reached a door with a plaque that said "_First Years - Girls Dormitory_". They stepped inside and there were two four-poster beds with navy hangings, two desks, and two bookcases.

"Oh, you're _so_ lucky," Emmeline moaned. "There's six girls in my dormitory still and we can barely fit all the beds in the room. Good night!"

Both Petunia and Alice fumbled through their trunks, which had arrived and been placed thoughtfully at the foot of their beds, finally pulling out nightclothes and stumbling into bed. _I have so much to tell Lily_, Petunia thought just before she fell asleep.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

_And there's chapter 2! I hope you enjoyed it. I'm still looking for a beta if anyone's interested!  
_

_I took part of Professor McGonagall's speech from HPSS, so that doesn't belong to me. None of the characters belong to me, actually._


	3. The Accident

**The Accident**

Petunia stretched as she stared blearily down at her Potions essay. Three more inches and then she could go to bed... an excellent idea as the clock on the mantle informed her that it was a quarter to two in the morning. She heard someone talking quietly to the raven that guarded the common room and looked up in surprise as Professor Flitwick came in.

"Oh, good, you're still up, Miss Evans," Professor Flitwick said quietly as he stepped closer to where she was seated near the dying fire. "I'm afraid something has happened, you'll need to come down to Professor Dumbledore's office straight away."

Petunia sprang up from the sofa she had been sitting on, all traces of exhaustion disappearing. "What's wrong? Is Lily alright?"

"Your sister is fine... just please come with me, Miss Evans."

Shaking, Petunia cast a spell on her essay to dry the ink and hastily rolled it up, stuffing it in her bag along with her books, quills, and ink. She stood and quickly followed Professor Flitwick out the door.

After what felt like ages, they finally reached the Headmasters office. Professor Flitwick gave the password, Strawberry Ice Cream, and she practically ran up the stairs, only to find a very serious looking Headmaster, a terrified sister, and a pale Professor McGonagall.

"Thank you for seeing me at this late hour," Professor Dumbledore said gravely as Petunia sank into a chair, noticing that Lily was in her night clothes, a dressing gown hastily thrown on.

"What's wrong, Professor?" Petunia asked desperately.

"There's no easy way to say this," he said, sighing heavily. "Unfortunately, we were just informed by the authorities that your parents perished in a car crash this evening."

Petunia sat numbly in the chair. Her parents, _dead_? It wasn't possible, they were so looking forward to her graduation next month...

Lily let out a strangled sob and flung herself into Petunia's lap. Petunia automatically held her and began stroking her hair.

"What happened?" Petunia asked quietly, amazed that her eyes were still dry.

"They were driving home from dinner earlier this evening and were hit by a drunk driver. He was driving much too quickly and in the wrong lane and hit your parents head on, killing them instantly. I'm very sorry, Petunia."

Petunia finally felt her eyes begin to water. "What's going to happen to us?" she asked stiffly, trying to maintain her composure.

"You are eighteen years old, an adult in both the wizarding and Muggle worlds. Since you have no remaining relatives, it is most likely that you will be given guardianship of Lily until she comes of age."

Petunia's mind began reeling. Her parents were dead and now she was expected to take care of Lily, all while studying for her N.E.W.T.s and finding a job of her own? It was too much.

"I understand how hard this is for you girls," Dumbledore said softly, and Petunia vaguely noticed that at some point Professor McGonagall had placed a hand on her shoulder and was offering her a handkerchief. Shaking her head slightly, she continued to listen to Dumbledore's soothing voice and words. "My own mother died when I was seventeen, leaving me to care for my two younger siblings. I am always here to help you with anything you need, be it studying for N.E.W.T.s, straightening out affairs in the Muggle world, or a shoulder to cry on."

"Thank you, sir," Petunia choked out, Lily still shaking with sobs.

"Additionally, I am giving you this week off to make arrangements for the funeral. Your professors will be notified of your situation. Would you like to stay here or return home? If you stay here, we will provide you with private quarters for the following week, I assume you'll want a space to be together and away from prying questions. If you wish to return home, I will make arrangements."

"Can - can we stay here for tonight, at least?" Petunia asked. "We'll figure everything out in the morning."

"Very well, Filius, could you ask the house elves to move their things to the visitors chambers?"

Soon they were being led down a corridor on the second floor that Petunia had never seen before. There were many stuffy looking portraits lining the walls and there were a number of ornate doors placed every so often.

"This is typically where any representatives of the board of governors stays, if they need to remain at the castle overnight," Dumbledore informed them softly. That would explain the stuffy portraits on the walls. "I'm leaving you in the room assigned to Edward Fawley, I'm sure he won't mind your presence here, as some might. The password is _Faithful_. Please come and see me if you need anything, anything at all." With that, he turned and left, leaving the two girls alone.

"Faithful," Petunia told the door, turning the handle. The door opened, revealing a sitting room with a fire crackling on the hearth, so they walked through the only other door in the room, coming into a bedroom with a large, comfortable looking bed with red hangings. True to his word, two worn looking trunks were already at the foot of the bed. Lily savagely yanked off her dressing gown and threw herself on the bed, while Petunia opened her trunk and began getting dressed for bed mechanically.

"Why'd they have to die, Tuney?" Lily cried, her voice muffled by a pillow.

"I don't know," Petunia said numbly as she climbed into bed next to her sister. She desperately wanted to break down the way Lily was, but she had _so much_ she had to accomplish in the next few days and crying wouldn't get any of it done. She took a deep breath, choking on a sob, tried to take another deep breath, and finally broke down in tears.

* * *

Planning a funeral was much more work than Petunia had ever imagined. She had to meet with the undertaker and the priest, discuss how she wanted her parents made up for the wake, then had to dig through their clothes to find suitable attire to bury them in. Meeting with the priest was slightly more comforting, he had some suggested readings and songs that she could pick and choose from. Her parents had attended St. James church their entire life, so she trusted the kind, elderly priest to do them justice in his eulogy.

Once the funeral was said and her parents were buried, Petunia turned to other more mundane matters. There weren't any other wizards in the area since the death of Eileen Snape and even though most of Wizarding Britain was simply a Floo away, she wanted to live in an area with more wizards around, somewhere where she didn't have to worry about nosy neighbors peeking through her curtains and seeing her casting spells, brewing potions, or wondering about the strange plants growing in her garden. Therefore, they would have to sell the house and they could find some other small place. She buried her head in her hands. While they undoubtedly had the nicest house in the neighborhood, being one of the larger, end rowhouses with spectacular flower beds, it still wasn't going to fetch a lot of money. She wanted to get the house on the market straight away so that it could be shown off while the gardens were in full bloom.

A stressed Petunia Evans was a very busy Petunia Evans. She cheated a bit, spreading dragon dung on the flower beds and preparing a special herbicide that would kill all the weeds, but not the flowers, for the following year. Lily would often come down to the kitchen in the middle of the night to find her sister frantically brewing potions for everything under the sun, be it a potion to clean the bricks or brighten the shutters, or a simple Pepper-up since she knew that they'd eventually get sick with the stress they were under.

"Here, Tuney," Lily said the last morning they were planning on spending in Cokeworth before heading back to Hogwarts. Petunia was frantically shrinking and packing all their belongings into a cavernous trunk she had purchased in Diagon Alley the previous day.

"What is it, Lily?" she snapped at her sister. She was currently having difficulties shrinking the sofa and it was not improving her already sour mood.

Lily looked at her harried sister carefully. "I think I may have found us some places to live," she said carefully. "The estate agent said we should expect twelve to fourteen thousand pounds, right?"

"Yes," Petunia sighed, feeling lucky.

"Well," Lily said, straightening out several copies of the _Daily Prophet_, "I've found a cottage for two-thousand galleons in Hogsmeade and a flat in Diagon Alley for eighteen-hundred galleons."

Petunia's heart soared. Those prices were quite reasonable, so long as the buildings were in good condition. They had to go to Diagon Alley today, anyways, and they'd be in Hogsmeade the next day when they returned to school.

"Well, might as well go into Diagon Alley now, then," Petunia said, racking her brain for the potion ingredients she needed to pick up at the apothecary, before finally summoning parchment, ink, and a quill.

Around an hour later, Petunia and Lily found themselves in a relatively quiet Diagon Alley gathering up potion ingredients. After some grumbling about the increased price in newt eyes, they returned to the sunshine filled street.

"Alright," Petunia said steadily. "The flat is supposed to be at 108 Diagon Alley, Madam Malkin's is at 92, so it should be just a bit past there…"

Soon enough, they encountered a building proclaiming _Miller's Everyday Hats_ with a small _Flat for Sale_ sign in the front window. Taking a deep breath, Petunia pushed open the door and a small bell tinkled at their arrival.

"Good morning, ladies!" an elderly woman came out to greet them. "What are you doing out of school?" she asked in surprise.

At this Lily's eyes watered and the woman's eyes narrowed even more. "I am of age," Petunia informed the woman stiffly. "Our parents recently died and we were looking to move. I've come to enquire about the advertised flat."

"Why don't you just live in your old house?" the woman asked, perplexed. "Surely you want to keep the happy memories of your parents."

Lily looked amazed at how nosy this woman was being and Petunia straightened her posture more than she thought was possible. "We'd like to live in the Wizarding world, ma'am," she answered stiffly.

The woman's kindly face contorted into an ugly scowl. "_Mudblood filth,_" she hissed at them, drawing her wand. "Out, I say, out!"

Petunia paused, gawking that such a kind looking woman could suddenly turn so… so _nasty_ all because she wasn't born to magical parents. Lily dragged her out of the shop and onto the street, where tears were pouring down her face. "What do we do now?" she choked out.

Dazed, Petunia flung out her right arm, causing a large, triple decker, purple bus to appear. An elderly wizard hobbled off the bus. "Good morning, ma'am –"

"Two for Hogwarts," Petunia informed him dully, pushing her way onto the bus.

The man gaped at her. "Do – do you want hot chocolate? Or a toothbrush?"

"No thank you. How much do I owe you?"

"Er – five sickles," the man said after a moment, clearly caught off guard from not being able to deliver his speech.

Petunia reached into her purse, counted out five silver coins, and handed them to the man before following Lily to the second floor where they collapsed into matching armchairs.

"We're going to see Professor Dumbledore as soon as we get back," Petunia informed Lily, staring at the wood grain on the table in front of them.

After a completely nauseating ride, Petunia and Lily disembarked from the bus in Hogsmeade and began up the winding path from the village to the castle. Petunia felt more peaceful than she had in weeks once she opened the enormous oak doors to admit them into the castle itself.

"I wasn't expecting you girls quite yet," the headmaster said as he stepped out into the entrance hall. "I've no doubt that your friends will be quite pleased to see you this evening."

"Thank you, Professor," Petunia choked out.

"Now, you're still excused for classes for the day, so would you mind coming up to my office so we can straighten out your affairs?"

That sounded an awfully lot like _they_ were the ones dying, Petunia thought, but nonetheless she nodded and followed the headmaster up to his office, Lily's hand clutched tightly in her own. They got there in record time, ducking behind several tapestries and walking straight through what appeared to be perfectly solid stone walls. Once they were seated in his office, Dumbledore offered them both lemon drops, which Petunia gladly took, hoping the sweet would settle her stomach.

"Thank you for helping us with this," Petunia said, feeling a strong rush of gratitude as the headmaster pulled out a stack of papers she had owled him two days previously.

"I am always here to help," he told her kindly. "Although there is no ideal age for losing a parent, eighteen and fifteen are quite unfair. Now I see that you wish to sell the house?"

"Yes, sir," Petunia said more clearly this time. "I feel that we would be better suited to a Wizarding environment, one where we don't have to worry about pulling the curtains and jumping when the doorbell rings."

"Quite understandable," Dumbledore responded affably. "There are a great number of Wizarding communities present in Britain, have you decided on a location?"

"We… we just came from looking at a flat in Diagon Alley," Petunia said, feeling the color drain from her face. "The woman selling the flat… she seemed quite bothered that we were Muggleborn."

"She called us Mudbloods," Lily piped in helpfully.

Dumbledore looked quite sad and forlorn at this statement. "Unfortunately, resentment against Muggleborns is growing. I'm afraid that soon you might have to decide if you're going to fight or go into hiding."

Petunia's mouth went completely and utterly dry. Dry as the Sahara desert. Defense Against the Dark Arts was one of her worst subjects – she had barely scraped an A on her O.W.L., taken in her sixth year because she got a D in her fifth year, and she was admittedly fairly useless in most subjects that required a wand. She was passable in Charms and only took it because she thought it might be useful down the lines, but she was grateful that Professor Flitwick was essentially allowing her an independent study where she _researched_ various charms and she wouldn't be sitting for her N.E.W.T.

"Hiding?" she croaked out at the same time Lily blurted out, "I want to fight!"

"Yes," Dumbledore said sorrowfully while Petunia turned to Lily, exclaiming, "You're _not_ going to fight!"

Lily turned to her older sister. "I will too fight!" she hissed, green eyes flashing.

"Lily, you're only fifteen," Petunia said sternly. "You are not going to go fight against wizards who are bigger and stronger than you and use nasty curses!"

Lily opened her mouth to continue the argument but Dumbledore interrupted her.

"Lily, there is not a chance that I would allow an underage witch to run off getting into duels with dark wizards while under my watch." Petunia smirked at her sister who looked crestfallen. "However, if you feel the same way after you've graduated, you may come and speak to me."

"But Professor!" Petunia protested.

"Anyways," the headmaster continued loudly, clearly ending that particular discussion. "If it is necessary for you to go into hiding you'll probably want to own an entire building and preferably a small patch of land…"

That's how, a month later, just after graduation, Petunia and Lily found themselves staring at a very small cottage on the outskirts of Hogsmeade. Petunia had reasoned that if the protection charms broke then she could quickly flee to the protection of Hogwarts and it was in an all-magical community as she had hoped.

The cottage itself was decidedly _not_ what she had hoped for. It was more than "worn about the edges" as the advert had described. It was quite small, quite literally a one room cottage, even if it happened to be a somewhat large room. They were clearly not going to be able to fit all of the furniture they had brought from Cokeworth.

"Hmm… I don't think Mum and Dad's bed is going to fit in here," Lily said as she drew her wand to poke at the miniature furniture in the trunk.

"No… Lily, put your wand away!" Petunia screeched, hurrying over to the trunk as she tried to visualize how to arrange the cottage.

"But…"

"No 'buts', young lady! You know the rules!"

Lily huffed, sticking her wand back into her holster rather viciously. "Wait… there's no bathroom here."

Petunia sighed, wiping sweat from her forehead. "I know. I spoke to a magical plumbing business and they said it'd cost one hundred galleons to attach a bathroom."

"What will we do in the meantime?" Lily asked, aghast.

Petunia shrugged. "There's an outhouse in the back, it's charmed not to smell, although the charm's getting a bit patchy. I bought a tub we can enlarge to take baths in until I get the galleons."

The look on Lily's face softened. "How's the job?"

Petunia had just had her first day working at an apothecary brewing potions. "Boring," she huffed. "I brewed _six_ size 5 cauldrons worth of Pepper-up Potion!" She dragged a slightly battered notebook out of her school trunk. "Now, what do we want for dinner?"

* * *

Petunia dragged herself wearily away from her cauldron at the apothecary in Diagon Alley. She had been quite fortunate to find herself a job there, in the back, brewing potions all day long, despite the growing anti-Muggle and anti-Muggleborn sentiment. Potions had always been one of her strong points – she was a precise and methodical person by nature and flourished when a cauldron was placed in front of her. Lily and her disgusting little friend, the Snape boy who lived down Spinner's End, had blossomed under her tutelage and rumor had it that Horace Slughorn ("Call me Horace, m'dear!" he had informed her merrily at her graduation. "Such a fine potions mistress who is no longer my student has no need to continue to refer to me as 'professor'! Makes me feel downright old…") was planning on steering one of the three of them into his position when he retired in a few years.

A loud _pop!_ startled her as she was pulling on her light jacket. "Excuse me," she informed the intruder stiffly as she pulled out her wand and pointed it towards him with a shaking hand. "The shop front is _that_ way. Customers aren't allowed back here."

The man broke out into a broad grin. "Good thing I'm not a customer then," he informed her, his eyes twinkling merrily. "I'm Edwin Prewett, my parents own this apothecary."

Petunia was taken aback and blushed horribly. "I'm terribly sorry," she stuttered. "I didn't realize…"

"It's no problem," Edwin assured her. "I'm quite glad that you take the shop's security so seriously." Petunia continued stammering out apologies and finally he interrupted her. "Say, have you had dinner yet?"

"No," Petunia replied, caught quite off guard. Surely he wasn't asking timid little Petunia Evans out to dinner?

"Me either," Edwin responded. "Let me just stop into the shop to let my father know that I won't be home for dinner and then we can go grab something to eat."

Utterly astonished, Petunia allowed herself to be pulled along as this strange man led her off on the first official date of her young life.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

_Alright, I had been planning on including more of Petunia's school life, but it just wasn't working out. Maybe one day I'll go back and flesh out her Hogwarts experiences, but as of right now, what I'm writing is boring me to tears and I won't subject you to that. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!  
_


	4. Edwin

**Edwin**

Six months after she had bought the cottage, Petunia was incredibly tired of bathing in the large copper tub. Fortunately, she had finally scraped together the necessary Galleons to build a very small bathroom in the cottage. Wisely, she decided to ask her kindly boss for a few pointers on who to hire, what to get done, and so forth.

"Well," he said, scratching his oily hair, "you'll want to have at least thirty percent more than the original estimate. Those things have a way of flying away like runaway hippogriffs."

Petunia groaned as she carefully stirred the large cauldron in front of her. "Thirty percent? Really?"

"Yup," he replied cheerfully. "You know, you wouldn't have to worry about any of this if you'd just marry young Edwin."

Petunia became very quiet and nearly paused in her stirring. Edwin was her boss' son, who had a comfortable job at the Ministry and had been asking her to marry him for two out of the six months they had been dating. While the pressure to get married as soon as you finished school was lessening in the Muggle world, the same could certainly could not be said of the Wizarding community where Petunia was already considered an old maid at the ripe old age of eighteen.

"I know," she said carefully, finishing the stirring without fanfare and extinguishing the fire with a sharp jab of her wand. "It's just… It's just so sudden. We've only been seeing each other for a few months."

"Half a year," her boss said wisely. "Why, the missus and I were married by that time! And look at how happy we are."

Petunia reflected on that as she began bottling the fresh batch of Pepperup Potion, which was flying off the shelves with the deeply cold weather settling in. Mr. and Mrs. Prewett were very happily married, and as far as the stories went, had bumped into each other at this very apothecary one morning and married three months later after a whirlwind romance. Her own parents had known each other all their lives, but hadn't they gotten married mere months after they began seeing each other? They looked as happy together the last she saw them as they did in their wedding pictures. She was still contemplating her discussion with Mr. Prewett as she was leaving for the evening and bumped into a solid chest.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry," she stammered out before a strong pair of arms circled around her.

"Tuney, love, you can walk into me as much as you'd like," Edwin's voice rumbled from above her and a gentle kiss was placed on the top of her head. Petunia instantly relaxed, smelling the familiar smell of her boyfriend.

"'Lo, Edwin," she said shyly, squinting up at him as she laced their fingers together. Merlin, how she loved this man.

"What do you say to dinner?" he asked jovially.

"I'm famished," Petunia declared. "I was planning on making chicken alfredo."

Edwin groaned. "Much as I love your chicken alfredo," Petunia giggled, he could eat four portions of her chicken alfredo in one sitting, "we've reservations at the Three Broomsticks."

"Sounds lovely," Petunia declared, just before he Apparated them to Hogsmeade.

Once they were seated at table, Petunia suspected another proposal was about to take place. Edwin had ordered a very nice bottle of red wine for the two of them, instead of his usual mead. He knew Petunia loved wine, but rarely had a chance to indulge while she was saving up for the bathroom for the cottage.

Her second clue was that he insisted on steak for dinner. Even when they ate out, he insisted that they both pick the same dish for dinner, claiming it felt more "homey". Petunia certainly wasn't going to argue with that logic, especially if they went to someplace like the Leaky Cauldron, which typically only served one dish for dinner.

Her suspicions were finally confirmed sometime after their dinner dishes had been cleared and their coffee hadn't yet arrived. Edwin frowned at something she had said, then reached into his pocket, got out of the booth, and kneeled on the floor beside her.

"Petunia, my darling, loveliest of all the flowers…" he began.

"I'll marry you, Edwin," Petunia declared, having heard this particular speech five times already. Her mind was made up this time, after the talk with her future father-in-law.

The broad, incandescently happy smile that lit up Edwin's face made Petunia start smiling and then laughing giddily. He slipped an old fashioned ring onto her finger before kissing her tenderly behind her left ear. Soon the entire restaurant was in an uproar, congratulating the newly engaged couple and the young barmaid insisted on a round of mead, on the house, for all the occupants in the pub.

Finally, amid many well-wishes and cheers and not a few lewd suggestions, Petunia and Edwin settled their bill and made their way out onto High Street, headed down the road to Petunia's cottage.

"You make me so happy!" Edwin declared, scooping Petunia up in his arms and spinning her around as she giggled giddily.

"I love you too, Edwin," she gasped out between giggles. "Oh, I can't wait to tell Lily!" Suddenly, she sobered. "Edwin," she began cautiously, "you don't mind Lily, right?"

Edwin stopped in the middle of the street looking startled. "Mind her? Why would I mind her?"

"Because, well," Petunia toyed with the ends of her scarf nervously. "Well, I – I certainly would understand if you didn't want to have to help raise your teenaged sister-in-law."

Edwin laughed again and tweaked Petunia's nose. "I think it's a very noble thing you did, taking care of your little sister after your parents died," he said in a tone far too serious to match the giddy expression on his face. "I'll leave the rules and such up to you, but I am by no means bothered that you have a little sister to mind."

Petunia gave Edwin a fierce hug. "I love you so much," she whispered.

* * *

The next morning, Petunia sent Lily a letter with the joyous news, and Lily was more than happy to share in her sister's joy. Soon enough, Petunia found Mrs. Prewett spending more and more time at the apothecary to discuss wedding plans while her future daughter-in-law chopped, grated, and stirred potion ingredients.

"Well, you will be quitting after the wedding," Mrs. Prewett stated matter-of-factly one day when Petunia asked if they could meet on Saturday for tea to discuss wedding plans instead of while she was just finally getting to brew more complicated potions that could bear few distractions.

"What!?" a startled yelp came from the front. Mr. Prewett came flying into the back room where the two women were sitting. "I'm not going to lose my talented young brewer!"

"Really, Mrs. Prewett…" Petunia began.

"Really, Petunia, how many times have I asked you to call me Millie?"

"_Millie_," Petunia stressed this time, "I have no intention of quitting after my honeymoon. Besides, I've never heard _you_ call your mother-in-law _Muriel_."

"Well, she's a scary old bat," Mildred Prewett muttered under her breath. "But what do you mean you're not going to quit?"

"I still have Lily to look after for another two and a half years," Petunia shrugged, slicing the Mandrake roots into slivers. "Possibly more – although she's quite bright. I don't doubt she'll be having job offers coming out her ears when she graduates."

"Pish posh," Mildred Prewett said with a wave of her hand. "Edwin makes more than enough at the Ministry to support _both_ you girls. There's no reason for you to continue working here once you're married. You'll have a house to take care of, after all."

Petunia ground her teeth. "As you may recall, I'm Muggleborn. I grew up doing housework _without_ spells…"

"Exactly!" crowed Mildred.

"_So_," Petunia continued, "housework takes _much less _time with magic."

"Now, Millie," Andrew Prewett interjected, finally. "Times are changing, women don't necessarily leave the workforce as soon as they get married. And," he added slyly, "I have no intention of losing such an excellent brewer so soon."

The back door to the shop opened and Edwin came strolling in. "Ah! All of my favorite people in one room!" he exclaimed, planting a kiss on Petunia's cheek before stepping over to give his mother a warm hug. "Why're you so upset Mum?"

"Because _those_ two are insisting that Petunia can still work once you're married!" she growled.

Edwin looked decidedly uncomfortable. "Er – Mum?" he said, scratching his head. "Don't you think that, you know, that's something _Tuney_ and I should discuss?"

"I don't see what there is to discuss," she huffed. "It's positively scandalous for a married woman to work when there's no need for it."

"Mum," Edwin said, using the firmest tone Petunia had ever heard him take with his mother. "Petunia and I will go home and discuss this _privately_. I expect, whatever the outcome of our discussion, that you will accept our decision with your famed poise and grace."

Petunia quickly drew her wand and sent a spell at the potion, causing it to neatly deposit itself in perfectly measured portions into flasks as she bid goodnight to the Prewetts. "Are you coming, Edwin?" she called out as she pulled on her winter coat and wooly mittens.

"Ready whenever you are, love," he called. She could hear him saying goodbye to his parents and then he joined her by the fireplace. "Ladies first."

"_Hogsmeade_!" she cried out, spinning round and round before finally stumbling out of the grate in the Three Broomsticks.

"Good evening, Miss Evans!" the young barmaid called out, as she wiped down the bar.

"Good evening, Rosemerta!" Petunia called back, tapping her wand on her cloak to remove any soot. Edwin came tumbling out behind her moments later.

"Will you two be stopping for a drink?" Rosemerta asked kindly.

"No, no, not tonight," Edwin replied, placing one hand on Petunia's back and steering her towards the door. They hurried down the chilly street, finally approaching the small cottage Petunia had purchased earlier that year. Pulling out a key, she began tapping out a series of charms on the key itself before inserting it directly into the wood, the door opening effortlessly.

Edwin whistled. "I never will get over your charm work, m'dear."

Petunia laughed softly as she unwound a scarf from around her neck. "Well, really, how many wizards use keys?"

"I know, I know, I've heard this argument before," he said, holding his hands up in the air. "Wizards typically associate keys with goblins and wouldn't think of using one to break into your cottage."

"Too true," she said, feeding more wood onto the fire and pulling food out of a nearby cupboard.

"What's for dinner tonight, love?" Edwin asked wandering his way about the cottage, lighting candles as he went.

"Spaghetti Bolognese," she answered absentmindedly as she turned to an old fashioned pot-bellied stove, placing a saucepan and a pot on the top.

"Mmm," was all he said in response as finished illuminating the cottage. "Say… how is it that Muggles keep food fresh without stasis charms?"

Petunia smothered a laugh. Edwin periodically would wonder how Muggles got on without magic and would voice his questions aloud. Petunia nearly always knew some sort of answer.

"They have refrigerators," Petunia explained. "They're very cold cabinets that you store perishable foods in."

"Fascinating," Edwin exclaimed, his eyes gleaming.

Finally, dinner was ready and they sat down to eat. "So," Petunia began, as she poked at her pasta nervously, "about what your mother said earlier…"

"Oh, that decision is completely up to you," Edwin replied, twirling a bit of pasta about his fork. "I think it would be rather difficult for you to still work after we have kids, but until then I don't mind you working or staying home, whichever you prefer."

Petunia was flooded with relief. Most Wizarding families she had encountered were quite traditional and it was considered unseemly for a wife to be working. Edwin however, was beginning to frown.

"We'll have to monitor the political climate as well," he stated, tapping his fork on the edge of his plate. "I really dislike this pureblood-mania that's springing up. If it gets out of hand, I'd rather you stay home with stronger wards than what the shop has to offer."

"Professor Dumbledore mentioned something about that," Petunia offered. "It certainly wasn't easy for me to find a job, I'm quite lucky that your father took me on."

Edwin waved a hand. "You're a brilliant Potions Mistress, he'd be a fool not to," he disagreed, causing Petunia to flush with pride. "It's settled then?"

"I'll assure your mother we had a blazing argument in which you finally relented that I could try to balance work and homemaker duties," Petunia assured him, a smile lighting up her features.

"Good," Edwin replied, eyes twinkling as he dug into his pasta.

* * *

"Tuney, come on, it's time to wake up…"

Petunia's eyes snapped open upon hearing her sister's voice. Her sister who had gotten special leave from the Headmaster to stay with her overnight so she could attend her wedding. "Oh dear Lord, it's today," she breathed out.

"Yes it is, and we only have three hours to get you ready, Miss I-need-my-beauty-sleep!" Lily sang out.

Petunia hurried out of bed and saw Mildred stirring something on the stove. "Just a nice, small bowl of porridge for the bride," she said when Petunia walked over and wished her a good morning. "Let Lily do your hair, it'll be done by the time that's finished."

Petunia obediently walked over to Lily's bed, where there were all sorts of hair-accessories and brushes lined up. "Here, now," Lily said, pulling out a thick scrapbook. "My roommates and I have been trying out all these styles lately, so pick a couple and we'll try them out."

Opening the scrapbook, she found several dozen clippings from various magazines, mostly featuring short, fluffy hair, quite the opposite of her own long, thin hair. "Don't worry about the lengths," Lily assured her, producing several potion vials from her pocket. "I made a batch of hair regrowth potion before I came down, so you could go down the aisle bald and your hair would be just as long for your first dance."

Smiling gratefully, Petunia once again turned her attention to the scrapbook, a particular style catching her attention. "Lily?" she asked cautiously. "How good are you with hair color charms?"

Lily burst into laughter. "Oh Tuney," she finally gasped out. "Have you _seen_ Mary McDonald?"

Mary McDonald was one of Lily's dorm mates who was renowned for changing her hair color on a daily basis. Sometimes it would be a subtle change, but she had been the recipient of several detentions for her hair being "quite the distraction", as Professor McGonagall had stated the day she had dyed it red and gold, with the stripes reversing colors every few moments.

"All my work," Lily said proudly. "What're you looking at? Your hair's so beautiful I don't want to do much to it."

"I – er – well…" Petunia stammered. "I had an idea with the hair regrowth potion."

"Mmm?" Lily said absentmindedly, fingering her wand.

"I want to have really long hair today, sort of wavy, like that," she said, pointing to a picture of a witch with soft curls. "But I'd also like highlights… sort of like that."

Lily's eyes lit up in excitement. "Oh… yes… that'd look lovely, Tuney! And given how long your veil is, we don't have to worry about your hair hanging out the bottom!"

Petunia grinned madly as Lily set to work, giving her two of the vials to drink.

* * *

"I love you so much," Petunia whispered, her tall heels gliding across the dance floor as she danced her first dance with Edwin.

"I love you more… _Mrs. _Prewett," Edwin assured her, leaning his head down slightly, touching the very tips of their noses together.

Petunia was sure that if she were able to peel her eyes away from her new, and very handsome, husband, she would see their friends and family watching them dance. However, her pale blue eyes were riveted to Edwin's dark blue ones. Much too soon for her liking, the dance ended.

"Petunia!" a voice called out.

"Emmeline!" Petunia responded, spotting one of her best friends wearing a lavender bridesmaid gown. "Alice!"

Both her friends came rushing towards her. "Please tell me there's a girls dance some time," Emmeline groaned. Both Emmeline and Alice were in the Auror training program – Alice a green first-year and Emmeline in her third and final year. Alice had married her long-time boyfriend, Frank Longbottom, several weeks after graduation, but most wizards did not approve of Emmeline's career choice.

"I love your hair," Emmeline said brightly. "Lily's doing?"

"Yes," Petunia said with a huge grin. "I absolutely love it… I'm seriously considering keeping it this long."

"You should," Emmeline said.

"I dunno…" Alice said slowly. "I rather liked it short." She fingered her own short bob that was barely long enough to be scraped off her face and into a pony tail.

Petunia and Emmeline burst out laughing. "You would," Emmeline choked out between hearty laughs. "But Petunia here isn't an Auror."

"Still, don't you have to worry about it getting into potions?" Alice asked dubiously when her two friends had somewhat composed themselves once more.

Petunia shrugged. "A simple plait keeps it all out of the way," she said simply, her lips twitching with suppressed laughter.

"Tuney!" a voice called out. Petunia turned around and began grinning madly when she saw Edwin walking towards her. "My cousin is here, I think you'll really like her."

"We'll be right here," Alice assured her.

"Bring her over here to meet us… if she's nice," Emmeline whispered, Alice giving her a good natured thump on the arm.

Soon enough, Petunia found herself being introduced to a Molly Weasley. "How do you… Bill Weasley, get back here right now!"

Petunia giggled. Molly had handed over a sleepy toddler to her husband as she began chasing after a young boy who had gotten into the chocolate fountain.

"I'm Arthur Weasley," the bespectacled man said, shifting the toddler on his hip so he could shake Petunia's hand. "This little one here is Charlie and, as you may have gathered, the chocolate covered one Molly's chasing after is Bill."

"Oh, you're Arthur Weasley? Weren't you a Gryffindor Prefect?" Oh yes, Petunia had heard of him. He and Molly Prewett were both Gryffindor prefects that had caused quite the scandal at the end of her third year. They had escaped to the Ministry in London one Hogsmeade weekend and eloped. Rumor had it that Molly was pregnant for their graduation the following month.

Arthur looked pleased that she remembered something about him. "Yes indeed. I'm currently working in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry."

Edwin groaned softly. "Don't let him know you're Muggleborn," he whispered in her ear. "I want to spend some time with you tonight."

Arthur was smiling gently at the young couple. "I know when I'm not wanted," he said kindly. "You lovebirds go off and enjoy each other's company for the evening."

"Thank you, it was lovely meeting you, Arthur!" Petunia called as Edwin began dragging her back off to the dance floor.

"You know I love you, right?" Edwin whispered in her ear as a waltz began.

"You can't possibly love me anymore than I love you," Petunia assured him, floating through the moves of the dance.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

_To clear up any confusion, here's a rough timeline of dates:  
_

_June 1975 - Petunia graduates from Hogwarts with N.E.W.T.s in Potions, Charms, Herbology, and Ancient Runes. She had originally planned on not taking the Charms N.E.W.T., but with some persuading from Prof. Flitwick and a great deal of studying, she scraped an E._

_End of June 1975 - Petunia begins working at the Apothecary in Diagon Alley (at this time owned by Andrew and Mildred Prewett), meets Edwin, and she and Edwin go on their first date._

_November 1975 - Edwin proposes to Petunia - twice._

_December 1975 - Edwin proposes to Petunia three times - once in the beginning of the month, once on Christmas Eve, and again on Christmas day when he finds her mourning her parents. She argued that they hadn't been together long enough to get married, he points out that her parents only had a short time together and they needed to take advantage of all the time they had together. She begins to cave._

_Early January 1976 - beginning of this chapter_

_End of March 1976 - Petunia and Edwin tie the knot._

_At any rate, I hope that cleared some things up for people and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter is already completed and simply needs to be proofed._


	5. Into Ashes

**Into Ashes**

Petunia sat in a self-rocking chair nursing her three-day old daughter, Alice, named for her best friend and mother. Both women were two of the strongest that she knew, so she hoped that her daughter would be as brave, smart, kind, and loyal as her namesakes.

"Hi, love," Edwin said, leaning against the doorway, giving his wife and daughter a look of utter tenderness, wonder, and love. "How're you two doing?"

"We're doing well," Petunia replied. "Come over here, you."

Edwin walked over to where his wife and daughter sat and the chair obligingly widened to fit him as well. Sitting down, he stroked Alice's downy hair gently.

"She's amazing," he whispered. "You're amazing."

Petunia kissed him gently. "You're amazing too, you know."

"We're picking up Lily tomorrow, then?"

"Mhm," Petunia murmured, shifting Alice to her other breast. "The train should be getting in about six o'clock if you want to join us."

Edwin let out a low, rumbling chuckle. "Of course I'll be there. Three of my favorite girls in the world will be in one place… do you think we can get Mum to join us?"

Petunia chuckled. Edwin frequently told the world that his mother, his wife, and his sister-in-law were his three favorite women in the world. Now, finally, it was bumped to four to include his newborn daughter.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I know it's because I'm Muggleborn and all, but I don't trust those spells the Healers gave us for taking Alice out into public so soon. I was hoping your mum could watch her for us."

Edwin suddenly became quite serious. "Love," he began cautiously. "You know the anti-Muggle sentiment in the world right now." This was true – although Petunia had eschewed Muggle clothes her entire time at Hogwarts unlike other Muggleborns, there were still those who knew her to be Muggleborn and would hurt her if given the chance. He looked like he was considering his next words very carefully before he continued. "Most witches will bring their babies out as soon as possible, show them off, you know. It'll help you two blend in," he finally blurted out with an air of desperation.

"If you think it's safest, then," Petunia said with a small frown. "Just… can your mum do the charms?"

Edwin broke out into a wide smile. "Of course, love, of course."

* * *

Mildred Prewett came over early the following morning and immediately began fussing over her granddaughter. Petunia was actually quite grateful to her mother-in-law, who had helped her through her pregnancy as if she was her own daughter and knew all sorts of charms to help soothe a fussy baby. Petunia was still horribly frightened to perform any charms on Alice, so she had taken to practicing them on herself and had to admit they were quite soothing.

"There… and there!" Mildred Prewett announced, swishing her wand wildly over Alice.

"Thank you, Millie," Petunia said gratefully, carefully picking up her infant daughter. She placed her in wrap, making sure she was quite secure and not budging. The tiny girl seemed quite content, having been recently fed, bathed, changed, received an anti-colic charm, and was now cuddled quite close to her mother.

After hailing the Knight Bus and the large, purple, triple-decker bus had appeared in front of them, they boarded, Edwin handing over ten silver Sickles to the elderly conductor. Mildred insisted on taking seats near the front, which were comfortable, even if the ride was not.

"King's Cross Station!" the conductor hollered, and the sounds of stamping feet could be heard from the other floors. The Prewetts quickly exited the bus and made their way to Platform 9 ¾ where many other parents and relatives could be seen hurrying to as well.

The Prewetts, once off the bus, ambled over to the platform since Petunia didn't want to jostle Alice overmuch, as she had somehow managed to fall fast asleep on the Knight Bus. Chatting, the three of them leaned through the barrier and moments later heard the distant whistle of the Hogwarts Express.

"I still can't believe all that's happened," Petunia murmured to Edwin. "I'm married, have a beautiful baby girl with the man I love, and my baby sister only has a year left at school."

Edwin gave a low chuckle and wrapped his arm tightly around Petunia's shoulders, bringing her closer to him. "We're all growing up, love," he informed her, placing a kiss in her hair. She smiled and leaned into him.

Several minutes later, the red train stood quietly at the platform and students began clamoring off, exchanging goodbyes with their friends and merrily (and sometimes not so merrily) greeting the friends and relatives who had come to pick them up and bring them home. Soon enough, Petunia spied the brilliant copper hair bouncing through the crowd and she waved her arm up in the air to get her little sister's attention.

"PETUNIA!" Lily yelped upon catching sight of her sister. "When?"

Petunia grinned madly. "Lily, I'd like you to meet your niece, Alice Mildred Prewett."

Lily looked at the tiny bundle clutched tightly to Petunia's chest. "I'd say she's beautiful, but I haven't seen her yet," she teased.

"Lily!" a voice called out.

Lily groaned. "That'd be the infamous James Potter," she replied with a grimace.

A tall young man with horrendously messy hair came running towards the Prewetts and Lily. "Lily, I just wanted…"

The air was suddenly filled with dozens of loud cracks, black robed figures wearing white masks appearing all over the platform. The boy paled. "We have to get out of here," he said urgently. "Can you Apparate?"

"I'm not Apparating with Alice," Petunia said resolutely.

Edwin tugged on his wife's arm. "The boy's right, we need to get out of here _now_. If they're able to Apparate in, they must've taken down the wards around the platform." Suddenly a jet of green light hit him in the back, causing him to slump to the ground.

"EDWIN!" Petunia cried, kneeling down next to her husband. "Get up, get up, please get up!" He didn't move and when she raised a shaking finger to his neck, she couldn't find a pulse.

Mildred was ashen faced and her hands were trembling, but knelt down next to her daughter-in-law. "I know, dearie, but we need to get you out of here. Go on, I'll take him to St. Mungo's."

Petunia nodded frantically and tried to bring up a clear image of St. Mungo's in her head, but she couldn't do it. The image of the green light racing towards Edwin and him slumping over kept racing through her mind. "I can't do it," she sobbed, frantic with worry.

Lily, quite pale took a hold of her sister. "You have to do it," she said urgently, as a jet of purple light came towards Petunia, hitting the tiny bundle on her chest.

"NOO!" she screamed. She turned her wand on the nearest masked figure she could find. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Much to her amazement, the figure was thrown off his feet, flew several feet through the air, before finally landing and staying quite still.

"Lily," the boy said. "Yell at me all you want later, but you Side-Along with her and I'll bring the trunks along. I'll meet you there."

Petunia was reaching to undo the wrap that held Alice, but Lily stayed her hand. "Don't," she ordered, grasping her arm firmly and spinning the three of them off to St. Mungo's.

* * *

Petunia sat numbly next to a small cot that held her infant daughter, who would gasp for breath every few seconds, too far apart for her liking. Lily sat on one side clutching her hand and Mildred had gone home to find her husband and share the sad news.

"Er – do you need anything else?" the dark haired boy – James, Petunia thought – asked from the corner, his hands jammed into his pockets.

"No," Lily said slowly. "Really, though, thank you for all your help today, James. It means a lot to me… to us."

"Won't your parents be worried about you?" Petunia asked, still staring at her tiny daughter.

Lily's hand tightened around hers in warning, although what warning that could be, Petunia could only guess. "Er – no," James said, finally. "My mum, well, my mum died back in my fifth year and my dad," his voice cracked so he cleared his throat before continuing. "My dad died last month."

"Oh," she said, not knowing what else to say. Clearly the boy needed comforting, but having lost her own husband just a few hours ago and her baby girl barely clinging to life… well, she simply wasn't in the place to provide it.

"Anyways," James said, turning his attention back to Lily. "Write me if you need to." He pulled a rumpled quill and a scrap of parchment out of his robes, scribbling something down and handing it to her. Lily took it, glancing at it before pocketing it.

"I will," Lily said quietly. "Make it home safe, James."

"I will," he said quietly before adding quite seriously, "stay safe."

A few minutes passed before the monitors over Alice's cot began beeping loudly and going haywire. Petunia had been counting the seconds between each breath… _five… six… seven… Lord, help her!_

The healers rushed in and after a glance at the diagnostics above her cot, began pouring potions into her, but she didn't seem to be capable of swallowing. After a few harrowing minutes, the monitors were switched off and several of the healers left the ward talking to each other quietly.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Prewett," the remaining healer said. "There was nothing more we could do." He looked down at the stack of charts in his hands. "You should be able to pick up the death certificates…" He did a double take at the writing on the chart. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Mrs. Prewett," he said, looking at her with a stricken look on his face. "Death certificates may be picked up at the reception desk."

"Thank you," Lily said softly, tugging on her sister's hand.

"No," Petunia croaked out. "I need… I need…" Breaking down into heaving sobs, she curled into her sister's comforting embrace.

* * *

Petunia had her in-laws, her husband, and her daughter buried along with all the other past Prewetts in a cemetery in Godric's Hollow. _I can't stay here,_ she thought desperately, swiping at her eyes with a handkerchief. Mildred Prewett had rushed from St. Mungo's to the apothecary to inform her husband of their only son's untimely demise, but shortly after she arrived in Diagon Alley more masked figures had appeared and the slaughter continued. Both Mildred and Andrew were found in the midst of the battle, six masked figures lying dead around them. They had refused to go down without a fight. Both, along with Petunia, had received Orders of Merlin, third class, for "assisting in the takedown of a terrorist group".

Eventually, Petunia and Lily made it back to the little cottage Petunia had bought in Hogsmeade nearly two years previously, unable to face the house she and Edwin had lived in in Godric's Hollow.

"I think we need to go back to the Muggle world," Petunia finally said over now cold cups of tea.

Lily's eyebrows raised. "You're just going to let them take over? That's the same as admitting that they're right!"

Petunia's eyes filled with tears. "I have lost my husband, my daughter, and two wonderful in-laws to this madness," she said fiercely. "I am not going to lose my sister, too!"

Lily sighed. "Tuney," she said gently. "I'm of age… and I'm choosing to stay in this world. Please stay with me."

"If you stay, I'll have lost you anyways," Petunia said choking up with tears. "I'm leaving for Muggle London tomorrow."

Lily tried arguing with her with no success. Long into the night, Petunia agreed to leave Lily the house in Godric's Hollow (how could she bear to ever step foot in there again without her husband and daughter?) and both sisters left each other with tear stained faces and nothing really resolved.

* * *

Petunia patted her hair nervously as she walked in the front door of her new employer, Grunnings, which made drills. It was about as Muggle as Muggle could get and she felt confident that the dark wizards (whom Lily told her were stylizing themselves as "death eaters") wouldn't even think to look for her in such a place. She had given Lily her house in Godric's Hollow, unable to face the painful memories of her husband and daughter, and sold the tiny cottage in Hogsmeade. Petunia used the money as down payment on a tiny, single room flat in the outskirts of London and to pay for her typing course.

The pain of the loss of her husband and daughter weighed on her every day. She would wake up in the morning expecting to feel Edwin snuggled up to her, but the spot on the bed next to her would be cold and empty. She threw herself into putting new life into her flat, cleaning it like it had probably never been cleaned before. Now it was shabby, but sparkling clean, and the walls all had a fresh coat of white paint.

"Go-good morning, sir," she said shakily when she finally arrived at the office where she would be working.

"Ah, excellent, you must be Miss Prewett," the middle-aged man said gruffly. Petunia didn't have it in her to explain to the man that she was recently widowed and therefore _Mrs._ Prewett. "Here, I'll show you your desk and you can get started on your assignments."

Soon enough, Petunia was placed at a small, cramped desk with barely enough room for a typewriter, lamp, and the piece of paper she was to turn from messy handwriting to neatly typed print. She was handed a stack of papers and dutifully began to type.

Finally it was time for lunch, and two of her typing companions helpfully showed her where the lunchroom was, although they made no move to sit with or get to know their new coworker. Unfazed, Petunia sat down at a table, pulled out her cheese sandwich and a book on recent political developments in the Muggle world.

Suddenly, she was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Looking up in surprise, she saw a young man, about her age, holding a brown bag and staring down at her nervously.

"Er – do you mind if I sit here?" he asked.

Petunia looked around, there were plenty of other empty tables in the lunchroom, so he had likely chosen to sit with her. Carefully marking the page in her book, she replied, "Certainly."

Looking relieved, the man sat down. "Vernon Dursley," he said sticking out his hand. "Junior Executive."

Petunia reached for his hand, shaking it in greeting. The man had quite a firm handshake. "Petunia Prewett – I just started today as a typist."

Vernon was blatantly staring at her left hand. "Married?" he grunted. A small, sad smile graced her face.

"Widowed," she confirmed quietly, fiddling with the rings on her left hand.

"I'm sorry," he replied, but he looked more relieved than sorry. When she continued looking down, desperately trying to prevent the tears forming in her eyes from falling, he cleared his throat. "Er – do you want to talk about what happened?"

"He was murdered," Petunia whispered, tears now falling down her cheeks. "Him and Alice and Millie and Andrew…"

Vernon's face contorted into rage. "Those BASTARDS!" he cried out. "I hope they were caught and rounded up! I wish the death penalty were still around, dogs like that deserve to be shot…"

Petunia choked a laugh out through her tears, this man had a passionate side to him after all – politics, evidently. She rather thought that if the Death Eaters were ever rounded up and sent to Azkaban that would be a fate worse than death, to slowly be driven mad by the soul-sucking Dementors.

Vernon's face softened as he cut himself off in the middle of his tirade about the death penalty. "I'm sorry," he apologized, this time seeming sincere, as he fished a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her. "I didn't mean to go off like that…"

"It's quite alright," Petunia said, wiping her face with the soft, cologne scented handkerchief.

"So – er – what was your husband like?" Vernon asked tentatively.

Petunia smiled through her tears and launched into stories. This man, while definitely not Edwin, was certainly sweet.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

_And there's chapter 5! I hope you enjoyed it!_


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